In a factory, such as a factory for producing integrated circuits, some tools used in the production process can include detection devices, such as a mass flow controller, flow meter, or spectrometer, to monitor chemical consumption within a process chamber of the tool during its use in producing a product, such as an integrated circuit. Patterns in the chemical consumption can be analyzed to indicate when to advance to a next step in the production process. Alternatively, the process can advance to the next step after a predetermined period of time. Additionally, data on the consumption of various resources can be output to a local database for processing, such as statistical analysis and fault detection with respect to the operation of the tool.
For factory-wide monitoring of resource consumption, e.g., to forecast material (e.g., chemical) usage and requirements, a current approach evaluates information regarding an amount of the material available in a material warehouse, an amount of the material provided for use in executing each of a plurality of recipes, and projected requirements for the material based on a production schedule for the factory. The projected requirements can be generated based on simulated material consumption for the factory, which can be refined over time by evaluating actual consumption by the factory with previously predicted consumption and making modifications, when necessary, to future predictions.